Success Stories

Dear Art, Ralph, David, and Deb,

We wanted to express our sincere gratitude to you for your support in our head of school search process. We knew it would not be an easy task with the extremely tight timeframe we were facing but you were able to pull through and present to us a very strong line up of final candidates that were all unique and strong in their own regard. This in turn made our decision difficult, but you were always available to support our needs and give sound advice.

In the five years engaging with Carney, Sandoe & Associates, we can truly say that they are outstanding search consultants, both in depth and breadth. We were well supported and advised every step of the way in our search for an interim head of school and later on a permanent head.

At the outset, they spent a considerable amount of time meeting with various stakeholders to understand UWC ISAK's vision, mission, and ethos. The process left us with little doubt that they could accurately portray our school to potential candidates, both in the position description and during preliminary screening interviews. Their network of potential candidates is very broad. With short notice, our urgent search for an interim head yielded quality candidates in a space of two weeks! The permanent head search conducted later started with more than 5,000 potential candidates that were then shortlisted to a curated pool.

The candidate dossiers that were presented to the search committee were testament of their in-depth understanding of what we were looking for. Fully cognizant that board members tasked to conduct head of school searches may be doing it for the first time, Carney Sandoe provided ample training and resources at appropriate junctures. We also appreciated the healthy push backs they gave, a function of the underlying trust.

The dedication of Ben Bolté and Deb Welch was evident when meetings were sometimes conducted over several time zones, in the wee hours of dawn and even weekends. It was a partnership, and not just a “consultant/client relationship”. They wanted to see our school succeed in the long term with the right head as much as we wanted it for UWC ISAK.

I can say wholeheartedly that it was terrific to partner with Sara and Greg on our recent CFOO search. They are pros — they come with background in finance and advancement, attracted a very strong candidate pool, gave very good and sage advice to me throughout the process, and also engaged the board members in very thoughtful ways.

I would highly recommend them, so much so that I am now working with another Carney Sandoe consultant in our next important search. She, too, has been great with me and our internal search committee.

We have really enjoyed working with John Chandler and Art Charles. The value-add of your advice throughout the process, as well as your contacts within the international school world, have been incredible. We hope that you count on us as a reference going forward.

I knew that a few people were feeling very nervous about the training, so I was pleasantly surprised to see many team members in my office stopping by to praise Lawrence and to express how meaningful and useful they found the training to be. I was able to see how many seeds Lawrence planted during his four hour session! People left with more questions than answers and I was happy to witness that because that is usually how you know someone was effective in their delivery. Our office is thinking about IB/DEI and questioning more than ever before, and I am excited to see us embracing conversations related to diversity and inclusion.

In the past we diverted such conversations to leaders of color and asked for their input on all issues of diversity and inclusion. Now I am seeing more of my white counterparts taking accountability and they are beginning to see these conversations as everyone's and not just for those with specific titles or skin tones. Overall, I do not think we could have asked for a better first training.

Lawrence Alexander and Carney, Sandoe & Associates' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practice helped make history at Maine Regional School Unit 21. Dr. Terri I. Cooper became the first female African American superintendent of schools in the history of the State of Maine. And it is all because of Lawrence and Carney Sandoe.

Maine Regional School Unit has been a district in crisis since a race-based harassment incident. After five changes in the superintendent seat in just the past 12 months, we reached out to a search firm for the first time in district history. We had serious doubters who didn’t think that Lawrence or CS&A could deliver value to a public school district. Yet, it took just one meeting to realize we had found a remarkable leader who could help us build our cultural fluency, create an inclusive (and virtual) hiring process, widen our choice of candidates, and hire an exceptional leader from a pool of highly qualified candidates.

Lawrence has gone viral in our surrounding towns, and I have watched as he has changed the way people think and act and compelled students, teachers, and community members to embrace the power of inclusion. Beyond sourcing an incredible new leader for our schools, beyond guiding our Board and inclusive hiring process, Lawrence has opened people’s minds and touched people’s hearts. We have been getting Lawrence and CS&A fan mail from our stakeholders! One young staff member wrote to say that being part of our inclusive interview committee has “helped me reshape some of my educational philosophies as I go on to become a certified teacher.” It does not get any better than that.

We couldn’t be more pleased with CS&A and more grateful for your firm’s courage and commitment to diversity and inclusion with game changers like Lawrence. We look forward to more collaborations as we continue our DEI journey, and believe that you have a timely and important point of view and services for all of Maine’s public education.

Ralph Davison conducted a workshop for the Indian Springs School Board of Governors in December 2019. Indian Springs School had just completed a search for the School's next long-term head of school, and Ralph's guidance was timely, substantive, and enormously valuable. Several members of the Board expressed the wish that we had asked him to conduct the workshop a couple of years earlier, and several others asked that we make plans to have him return.

The team of Art Charles, John Chandler, and Deb Welch were simply outstanding in support of our searches. As we sought to hire two principals, the CS&A team were always available, responsive, and thoughtful in their approaches, work, and recommendations. COVID required new approaches and creative thinking, and I appreciated the team's leadership and flexibility to personalize the search for our school. I was also grateful for their patience and dedication in ensuring a complete process, fully considering the candidates' needs and our school's needs. Hiring a school leader can have a real impact on a school, and the CS&A team will not hesitate to make the extra effort to support schools with the hiring process.

I want to thank you and Ralph Davison for leading us through this process so meticulously. Your support and guidance have been invaluable. I know it is not over, and I look forward to working with both of you during the transition.

Having a reliable team of seasoned professionals with practitioner experience on your side is a blessing at the best of times - never more so, than when hiring a head of school. Add to the challenge, a most demanding brief, in the midst of a global pandemic. We sure made it difficult, but Art, John, and Deb brought trusted counsel, sound wit, and sage advice all along the way, and despite having hideous time zone differences, email responses were nearly always within the hour. Taking the time to comprehensively get to know our school, community, and needs, privileged Carney Sandoe with the knowledge and informed discernment, which along with their proven methodology, delivered a shortlist which, well, nailed it. Our school benefited greatly from our collaboration, and I know will continue to reap untold benefits stemming from our hire, perfectly matched, by our perfect search partners.